What do I eat in a typical day in Chad?

For breakfast I always have hot powdered milk to drink with

a) a baguette with an omelette (which is then put into the baguette to make a sandwich)

b)a baguette by itself

c) beignet (or donuts), but they are more like deep fried dough. Often we buy them from local woman, but I did help make them once.

Lunch = starch + sauce

Boule/rice and a sauce  (¾ of the time it is boule). Boule is made from flour and water (the flour can be millet, sorghum, rice, corn- but the first two are the most commonly used by my family.)

The sauce can be a red sauce (tomato based) or leaf based (and there are a number of leaves that are cooked up). There is typically meat in it- beef and fish are the two most common. Sauce is sometimes slimy which is not my favourite- the slim comes either from okra or from an African plant.

Dinner is a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes we have salad, sometimes there is pasta, or couscous, sometimes we eat yams, and sometimes there is just bouillie. Bouillie is a hot drink that Chadians have for breakfast and dinner that consists of water flour, sugar, and lemon juice/milk.

 You may have figured that fruit is something that is not really mentioned here. It is true that Chadians eat fruit on occasion, but it is not a regular part of the diet. However, my family provides me with fruit which I keep in my room, so that I’m able to eat it regularly. I have bananas, guavas, papayas, pineapple, and apples.

Sometimes there are things that I eat that I don’t recognize. I ask about them. Sometimes they know the word in French and other times they only know it in Ngambai. If they are unsure of the name we find something it is close to and say it is the cousin of spinach, or the sister of the potato!

Slowly but surely I’m learning to cook some of these dishes. I look forward to learning more and continuing to try new foods.

Below are pictures of me preparing boule, boule with a typical leaf sauce, and some pictures of me helping to prepare beignets.